☆ Welcome To Ayu's Story ☆

Tuesday, 10 August 2010

[News] 10.08.2010 Ayumi Hamasaki Teams Up With Tetsuya Komuro For New Single

Pop star Ayumi Hamasaki (31) recently announced that she will release her 49th and 50th singles on consecutive weeks next month. On Sunday, it was learned that the first of those two songs, titled "crossroad," will be a collaboration with producer Tetsuya Komuro (51).

Hamasaki approached Komuro with the idea back in April. Komuro agreed, and he composed and arranged "crossroad," while Hamasaki handled the lyrics. The result, a medium-tempo ballad, is the first Komuro-produced song sung by Hamasaki on her own. (She sang "a song is born" as a duet with KEIKO of globe, and she is part of the 11 artists singing the a-nation theme song that was announced last week.)

"crossroad" was recorded in early July. After hearing Hamasaki's voice on the finished recording, Komuro was inspired to adjust his original plans for the guitar and strings accompaniment. He recruited the help of American musician Randy Waldman, who did much of the strings and orchestra arrangements for Komuro during the 1990s.

The coupling song for "crossroad" (currently untitled) was also provided by Komuro. The single will go on sale September 22, though Hamasaki may perform "crossroad" in concert as early as August 14 at the Nagoya a-nation event.

Hamasaki's 50th single, "L" will follow "crossroad" on September 29. The milestone release is said to include three new songs, though the composers have not yet been revealed. If both "crossroad" and "L" take #1 on the sales charts, Hamasaki will achieve her 25th consecutive number-one single, breaking Seiko Matsuda's record streak of 24 that was set 22 years ago.